Unofficial news and tips about Google

October 20, 2011

Google Reader Will Integrate With Google+

A lot of people expect a redesigned Google Reader and the good news is that they won't be disappointed: a new interface will be available next week. Google Reader is not dead, but the new interface couldn't be released faster because the sharing feature had to be integrated with Google+.

My favorite feature of Google Buzz was that it automatically imported all the shared items from Google Reader and allowed your followers to discuss them. Now that Google Buzz will be discontinued, this feature will be available in Google+. Unfortunately, Google Reader will no longer have a standalone sharing feature, a separate list of followers and people you follow, a feed and a page for shared items. This is great if you are a Google+ user, since it simplifies sharing and makes Google Reader more consistent. If you don't want to use Google+, you'll still be able to share posts by email or using the "send to" feature, but these workarounds aren't very useful for sharing a large number of posts.

The takeaway is that Google+ is not a distinct social service you can easily ignore, it's a service that will be used for sharing photo albums, documents, videos, for posting blog comments and it will be very difficult to use Google without joining Google+ since, at some point, Google+ will be... Google itself.

"Many of Reader's social features will soon be available via Google+, so in a week's time we'll be retiring things like friending, following and shared link blogs inside of Reader. We think the end result is better than what's available today, and you can sign up for Google+ right now to start prepping Reader-specific circles. We recognize, however, that some of you may feel like the product is no longer for you," mentions Google's Alan Green. That's the reason why you'll be able to export your shared items, your starred and liked items, your list of friends from Reader's settings page.

Google Reader's sharing feature has always been difficult to use and the integration with Google+ will finally give Reader the opportunity to shine and show why it's still a useful service. I'm sure that a lot of users will complain that they can't use the old sharing feature, just like many YouTube users complained when Google migrated YouTube to Google Accounts. There's a lot of value in having separate services with their own accounts, sharing features and friends lists, but switching to unified accounts, unified profiles, consistent sharing features makes Google's services more useful because they work together, they combine their strengths and become easier to use.

I've been wringing my hands for months, worried that Google would axe reader. Data liberation is useless when no competitor comes close to the speed and ease with which Google Reader lets me stay on top of all the information I need to manage. Thanks for being the bearer of good news, Alex!

I do really like that Google reader will be fully integrated with Google+. But here are some open questions:- With Google+ currently we are able to share only the links to the particular internet items. Will it be possible to share full articles?- What will happen to Notes? I use this feature to save/bookmark useful snippets.- Will it be possible to see my Google+ friends shared items directly in Google Reader (without the need to go to Google+ page)?

Anonymous said...I don't use Google+ because I heard you have to use your real name, otherwise your account will be closed.

Is this true?

No, you just have to use a name which sound real, sign up as John smith or Sarah smith and no one will notice. Sign up a "I am wearing a tin foil hat " and someone will notice and complain and Google are likely to kick you off the service.

@Anonymous - it's been true* for some and not others. me, i'm on a waiting list to see what they decide ;-)*'real' has been discussed to bits--"We recognize, however, that some of you may feel like the product is no longer for you"Sadly this is feeling close to applying to me :-( hope it doesn't. *looks hopeful*

No Google service requires to join Google+, so I doubt that Reader will set a precedent. Most likely, you won't be able to use the sharing feature without joining Google+, but all the other features will still be available.

Now if sharing could implement a deny override: e.g.: Share public, NoShare circle1 circle2. Everyone sees it except those two circles.

That'd make a huge difference.

That and hash tags which, when clicked, search for hash tags and not just the text of the tag. Argh. The point of hash tags is to mark out records that are intended by their posters to be found on that basis. It just spams the results to search for the text alone. The search results don't even privilege hash tags in the results ordering; indeed, the search seems hash tag agnostic.

This is a horrible, horrible development. Google will ruin its most useful service next to gmail. I can't believe they're stripping the social functions from Reader... its like gutting everything that is good about the internet.

We use Google Reader to share information with a wide audience of NHS health professionals and this is a highly retrograde step for us. Will the Clip Box we got from GR continue to work (I'm guessing not)?

I must admit, I have to use most of Google's products, I wish I did not have to use them because I hate the company, but their crome browser is much better then firefox,and I like the post you did with Steve Jobs and Google, that was nice. I just hope Google don't mess up Gmail, like Hotmail mess up their service

I hate this idea. What a way for Google to turn the sharing feature on Reader, which may actually involve a conversation of intellect, into another social networking scheme because they have their panties all in a wad over facebook. I've been to Google+ and it kind of sucks. So I will just use my blog for sharing, Google. So nice try.

It's true folks you have to use a real name OR ELSE they can close you down for breaking their effing tos. Just like that you loose GMail, reader and all your data. It happened to my friend and it can happen to you.

Just to be safe I keep my G plus separate from my real account and use it just like facebook. I am in it only for the integration they plan to make with GOOGLe Reader which is important to me. Far from that I do not like using G plus for anything else.

I'm hoping that we'll see the proper integration of what I'm calling 'feed-posts': http://urlyman.blogspot.com/2011/10/promise-of-feed-posts-in-google.html -- which have actually been available via Google+ URLs since its launch, it's just that they are not integrated with our Streams yet.

I'm massively disappointed in google. The perk of google reader was to have a select group of friends filter through hundreds of feeds and share the best articles while at the same time being a filter for topics of my interest. Google reader is not a means for connecting on a social level it was an opportunity to learn and stay informed. I hope this is fixed.

Qouted:"There's no problem with integrating reader's friend list with Google+'s circles. The issue is that I should be able to see what my Google+ circles are sharing from the reader interface if I want to."

same here,the thing made me interested in google reader upon facebook was my reader interface not annoyed by frinds' posts and activity,something concentrated , seems in July i'll switch to some other rss feed! feeling very upset!